The Rise of the Papacy
Barry Blankenship
CHHI 301 - History of the Christian Church I
Professor – Dr. Jeffrey S. Mayfield
February 20, 2012
The Fall of A Great Empire and the Rise of the Papacy
Before the fall of the Roman Empire you must stop and look at the power that was held within the millions of miles of land, building, people, cities, kings, and customs. The Roman Empire was not known for being just another city or empire but it was known for its strength, power and victories in the times of conflict and wars. The roman empire was built up to what it was right up until the fall by powerful kings and rulers who never imagined that the once untouchable empire would one day fall but not everyone had that same mind set of
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According to Webster’s Dictionary a patriarch is, one of the scriptural fathers of the human race or of the Hebrew people, a man who is father or founder, the oldest member or representative of a group, a venerable old man, a man who is head of a patriarchy, any of the bishops of the ancient or Eastern Orthodox sees of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem or the ancient and Western see of Rome with authority over other bishops, the head of any of various Eastern churches, a Roman Catholic bishop next in rank to the pope with purely titular or with metropolitan jurisdiction and a Mormon of the Melchizedek priesthood empowered to perform the ordinances of the church and pronounce blessings within a stake or prescribed jurisdiction. The authority given to the archbishops made the most significant bishops throughout all the empire. The archbishops were spread all throughout the land including Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem and Antioch but the issue in this situation was that the east contained four out of the five archbishops while the west simply had one archbishop, so there was not equal balance to both sides. A great division began to take place between the two sides as time passed and their political views as well as their cultural views began to shift and changes began to take place to separate the two sides. Throughout everything taking place Rome took precedents over all other areas as the theological headquarters per say. There
One reason the Roman Empire fell was because cities surrounding Rome invaded. According to Document Six, which is a map of Barbaric Invasions of the Roman Empire Prior to 476, shows that cities such as Goths, Ostrogoths, and Carthage all fled and invaded Rome. Other cities like Adrianople, Visigoths, Vandals, and Huns had all invaded as well . If you think about it, that is about seven cities that invaded Rome and that would be a lot for
The Roman Empire was extremely large and difficult to maintain, which made it very weak. According to Doc: 2, “Borders became difficult to secure and the amount of gold needed to maintain roads and perform routine maintenance was never enough.” According to TCI chapter 13, section 1, “The huge size of the empire made it difficult to defend.” The empire’s size caused it to weaken, leaving it open to attack by the many enemies surrounding it.
The seemingly unstoppable Roman empire was certain to fall in a matter of time. Even though Rome was majorly affected by external attacks, I feel like the fall was because of the internal decline. The economy and social issues were the key factors that led to the descent of the large empire. A vast amount of their problems came from within the city. Every decision that Rome made had an extensive effect on the city itself and the rest of the world. Many foolish decisions made by terrible emperors weakened the city and eventually cause the many aspects of Roman life to crumble.
A second reason Rome fell was because of the natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis. For example, according to The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman empire, “. . . the Roman world was shaken by a violent and destructive earthquake . . .” (Doc. F)This illustrates that the earthquake that hit Rome destroyed just about all of their culture. This also illustrates that many people died and were injured. This is important because Rome was already falling, so the earthquake hitting made it even easier for the Roman empire to fall. This is also important because many Romans lost their houses so they had to move to find somewhere new to live and support their families, which made their population smaller. With the cities’ populations smaller it made less
The Roman Empire is known as one of the strongest empires in history, due to their advanced technology, strong military leaders, and republican government. As the empire started to expand, so did their power. However, after years have gone by, the Roman Empire started to fall. Their fall may have been caused by political reason, such as the empire being just too much to handle, Diocletian splitting the territory in half, and their government corruption.
For a long period of time, Rome seemed like an unstoppable empire. It conquered the majority of the land surrounding it, including Greece, Turkey, Iraq, and many of its other neighboring countries. It seemed as though Rome would conquer the entire world, as it was the center of it, until it began to decline in 476 C.E. The very aspects that made it so successful were the ones that caused its collapse. Various political, religious, and economic reasons caused its downfall. The fact that the entire economy of Rome collapsed and money became worthless was a major reason for the empire’s collapse. In addition, the loss of a common religion and lack of efficient ruling in relation to its vast territory affected the empire. The Roman
Rome was once a powerful aristocracy empire that was feared and didn't want to mess with but down the line things went wrong time and time again like the negligence of the army, the constant natural disasters, and the treatment of their citizens, because of this happening Rome eventually fell and was no more.
The Roman Empire was one of the most impregnable empires at it’s time. It conquered the Mediterranean Sea and was a well organized and blooming empire, at first. Many problems began to hit Rome straight in the face, three of the main problems that ended this magnificent empire were the economic problems, the weakness and vulnerability of their army, and the fallibility of the leaders and politics.
The Roman Empire was a very successful civilization that had many accomplishments that are a part of the modern world. Textbooks and primary sources were studied to be able to come to these conclusions. The Roman Empire lasted 500 years throughout the BC and AD times without having too many major problems. The Romans were able to last so long because of the military strength and the amount of land that the Empire had. The Romans were located in Rome, Italy and ended up expanding to take over most of the Mediterranean world. However, all good things must come to an end. Starting in the 200s, other civilizations started to slowly take over Rome. Eventually, the Empire collapsed. The causes of the collapse of Rome were that the land area was too large to sustain, there were many political problems in Rome, and there were too many invasions happening for Rome to handle.
Although many historians and professors attribute the fall of the Roman Empire to excess and corruption, the role of shifting spheres of power, trade created a situation that made the fall of such a large cumbersome empire inevitable, the military played a role for not obeying protocol as well and an excess of things were happening in the government that also led to the fall of the Roman Empire. Each mistake made by the Romans contributed to their fall of their empire since after time of accumulation of their mistakes, it becomes a tremendous problem. Though the Roman Empire still did have their climax in history before everything came crashing down.
Rome has many achievements that led up to a successful empire. For example, Julius Caesar was a mighty emperor that altered Rome from a republic to an empire. But these success’ led to it’s “fall."
Did you know that the Roman empire was one of the strongest and one of the most powerful empire? Well as we all know the Roman empire fell for these reasons. The first reason is because the population decreased. The next reason is because the Roman empire had a economic crisis. The final reason is because the Roman empire had tons of invaders invading Rome at the same time so Rome couldn’t fight all those empires!.
The Holy Roman Empire was an empire in central Europe consisting of many territories and ethnicities. Once very powerful, the empire’s authority slowly decreased over centuries and by the Middle Ages the emperor was little more than a figurehead, allowing princes to govern smaller sections of the empire. Though the various ruling princes owed loyalty to the emperor, they were also granted a degree of independence and privileges. The emperor, an elected monarch, needed the allegiance of the princes and other aristocracy to support him, in turn giving them power or money. This tenuous allegiance between powers was greatly strained in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as religious reform dominated Europe and religious tensions
The Roman empire is considered one of the most powerful and longest lasting empire of all time by most historians. At its peak the Roman empire managed to take control and rule nearly the whole inhabited world at the time. Though their military achievements were outstanding the Romans also excelled at legislature. The Romans ran a governmental system which was most like a republic which the power was in the hand of the senators and patricians. The senators and patricians were mostly extremely rich elders of the community who linked themselves to gods. Though the people were the ones who voted for the senators the rich always voted who they wanted because they were the first to vote which made the senate corrupt since the lower classes barely got a say. Although the Roman empire was extremely successful historians are always doing research to figure out what elements led to its collapse. However, the Roman legislature, use of propaganda to sway public opinion, military power to conquer lands, and philosophy were essential reasons for the extended survival of the Roman empire.
People faced the rise and the fall of the Catholic Church during the medieval time. The Popes used to hold the final authority for the church and over the state. Pope Gregory VII asserted the Pope had granted the divine power from God because Saint Peter was the first of getting this